Quilts and Teeth

Last post, I showed you the quilt top I made for a friend for her engagement pictures/wedding and now that she has actually seen the top, as well as the back (in person) I will share a couple of fun personalization "labels" I added to the back.

I wanted to add something with a monogram, the bride and groom names and their wedding date (which I said she cannot change now that it's on the quilt for EVER) but I wanted it to be something I would be sure would never wash away.  Thought of writing a label, but have heard even those will fade over time, heard a technique of printing on fabric with the printer, but didn't know too much about that, and I'm not good at hand embroidery type stuff so that was not an option either.  As I was chatting about my dilemma while on this year's Treasure Shop Hop (14 hours, 450 miles, 8 quilt shops, 8 women, 1 Suburban...I'd say those numbers deserve their own post, no?  Maybe someday I will get around to it).  So, anyway, a friend of mine who has her own business and own commercial grade embroidery machine suggested embroidering something on the quilt.  So, one afternoon I spent a good 5 hours with her working on the design we wanted and finally came up with something I love.  

Soon I will get around to taking pictures of the complete front and back.  As you can maybe tell from that bottom picture, I quilted around the circles on the front of the quilt, a technique I've done on 2 "circle" quilts now and I love doing it!

Now, and update on the "and the Boys" front, Hunter has lost another tooth (this makes 5 now):

Receiving Blocks

I have started receiving blocks back from my Let's Bee Together group.  

As of this post I only have 4 back (out of 11) and I look forward to getting the others back soon so that I can add them to the 8 I have from when I had my local quilt group do the same blocks for me back in February.  

8 blocks from local group

4 blocks so far from Let's Bee Together group

From Staci of The Confused Quilter

From Marta of PolkaDotClassic

From Linda of Stray Stitches

From Wendy of Calculating Quilter

Quilt Mystery

I'm pretty new to the quilting world and when I really started getting into it last year, I suppose I developed more of an appreciation of quilts in general; suddenly I remembered a quilt that I received as a Graduation gift.  At some point I was able to move the fish tank off from the top of my cedar chest to retrieve the quilt.  Something that someone put so much time and effort into should not be in my cedar chest, it should at least be in the linen closet where I can easily pull it out on a chilly day.  So, I successfully moved the full-of-water fish tank, opened the cedar chest, and imagine my surprise when I did not see the quilt in there where I had assumed it was, where it used to be.

Between 2001, when I graduated, and when I opened my cedar chest in search of the quilt, 9 years had passed, 6 moves had taken place, and I had shared a living space with 3 different people (excluding my husband and kids).  I started with my parents - neither one of which had recalled the quilt being left at their house.  I emailed my former roommates - neither one of which think my quilt somehow ended up with their things, but they'd keep an eye out, or some of their stuff is in storage, etc.

When we moved in May, I was diligent in checking every box that was still in our garage from our previous move (yeah...no comment, please) and the quilt was not there anywhere.  A couple of months ago I was at my in-law's house and they had recently emptied their storage unit onto their back patio and I inquired about whether or not my brother in-law still had a storage unit or if the back patio included his stuff as well.  He still has stuff in storage and, since my husband and I lived with him on 2 separate occasions, I guess that is my last hope for the quilt.  My mother in-law said they'd keep their eye out in the house and then I just need to make sure my brother in-law will check once his stuff comes out of storage.

That is my last hope, otherwise, I have no idea what happened to that quilt.  I'm sort of heartbroken about it and mad at myself for letting it get away.

Has anything like this ever happened to you, with a quilt or something else?

Things I've Been Working On

This one started as a Crazy Nine-Patch Lattice Quilt, but after I made the nine-patch blocks I discovered it was a baby quilt and I didn't have enough to make more....so, enter a little improvisation (mess?).  This is an early picture, there will be the thin yellow border around all of that center grid and the outside border of the larger squares may still change several times as I go.  Back when I did the Treasure Shop Hop I decided to get 1 fat quarter from each shop, these are the fabrics from that adventure.

Geeze, lady!  Been sewing long?!  These blocks for my local quilt group are supposed to look like that.  Beth got her inspiration from the Waverunner quilt along.  Some of Beth's fabrics are also from fat quarters purchased on the Shop Hop, this was a fun idea we plan to do again next year (buying a fat quarter at each shop, I mean).

Veggie Tales is a blanket for West Coast/Central Oddball Knitters (although, I think our group name has changed several times so I don't really know what to call it anymore).  If you are a knitter and would like to join our group, feel free to leave a comment and I can email you more info, or you can find us on Ravelry, I think we're called Western Regions Oddball Baby Blankets there (see how one could get confused on what to call the group?).

For my local quilt group.  I'm unsure of what the pattern is but Terri will end up trimming those little points to create "square" rows and then place them side by side in zigzag form.

Sara borrowed some of my Crazy Curve templates, used up some of her fabric scraps she had on hand and asked us to make a block that looks like this - I'm not sure what she plans to do with them.

I bought this quilt kit awhile back and pieced together the top.  It also came with the binding fabric and I purchased the backing fabric at the same time.  Last week I bought some batting so one of these days I can get it all together.  The pattern is called Fire Escape.

Works In Progress

Besides the circle quilt top on the wall and table, my sewing room/office is STILL a work in progress after our move in MAY!

Templates and pattern for circle quilt won in a giveaway quite some time ago from Elisa and this is my first time using them.  Have to say, I LOVE the curves (thanks, Elisa, love the templates and patterns!)!

Fabric for circle quilt is a Fat Quarterly Fabric Pack purchased from Wish Upon A Quilt in addition to scraps won from John Adams a.k.a Quilt Dad's  Mother's Day Giveaway (thanks, John, loved the fabric!)!

So Much To Look At

I was holding up the backing of this quilt asking my husband which row was the shortest and he said there was so much to look at he couldn't figure out where I was asking him to look.  I told him, it's a Dr. Suess/Cat in the Hat quilt...it's supposed to be crazy!  Tell me I'm right.

Quilt top - blocks made by members of my local quilt group.  We're so original, we call ourselves The Quilt Block Ladies 

The Back - made by me


Something I read this week over at The Bitchy Stitcher  that totally fits this quilt:
(don't go if you can't handle the language, but I laugh at every post)
"Babies need stimulation and perfectly straight lines are far too stultifying for young minds. This kid will be a fuckin' genius, no doubt."

I'm going to be working on getting this quilted in the next day or so.  I'm not sure yet how I'm going to do it - straight lines because that's all I'm comfortable with, but not sure what to follow.  Any suggestions?  I was thinking just 1/4 inch from the seams of the large blocks on the top, maybe 2 rounds...if that makes any sense.

Bees

After seeing many online quilting bees, I started a quilting bee group for some of my local friends back in January (you can see my post about it here). I've been posting pictures of most of the blocks I have done for the other girls, but I never posted a picture of my finished quilt made from the blocks they did for me (in January).

I finished the quilt September 12th (yes, it really took me that long to finish it, not that I was actively working on it all that time) while my husband was away hunting one weekend. I decided I wanted to machine quilt this one - I had tied my first (and only other) quilt (pictures here). So I "stitched in the ditch" around each block and then connected each block at the corners with straight lines as well. The floral print of the quilt is from a vintage sheet, I ended up using a second sheet as the backing and binding for this quilt. The quilt is far from perfect. Most of our group members were very new to sewing/quilting (including myself) and my accuracy and technique for piecing the blocks together, quilting and the binding are definitely not the best, but I love it!

I just decided to join an online bee (see the new button on my sidebar?) and am really excited for it to start in January. It will be fun to 'meet' the people as they could be from anywhere in the world. I'll be sure to be posting lots about this bee in the future so stay tuned. I promise to be better about blogging - such a slacker I've been!

Kelsey's Block for May

We met for quilt group on Saturday and Kelsey gave us the fabric and instructions for her blocks due next month. Here's my block that I finished yesterday:

She has people making other color schemed blocks as well; yellow and red are the only ones I can think of. She'll also be adding handles of rickrack to the baskets. It was a fun block to make, and they're so cute! I just have to add (embroider) my initials to my block now.

Happy Birthday, Gidge!

My little sister is 17 today - happy Birthday!

I finished her quilt over the weekend. I'm not happy with everything about it, there are flaws and I wasn't wanting to tie it but rather machine quilt it...but oh well. It's still pretty good, I think, for being my first quilt ever.

So Excited...

...to be starting a 'quilting bee' somewhat like these:

Common Threads

Block Party!

The one I'm getting together will have members who are all friends/family/acquaintances of mine and are local so we won't be having to mail fabric and completed blocks back and forth. We'll also be able to get together at any time. We're going to have all levels of quilters, so it will be fun to learn from the experienced and watch the beginners advance. I'll more than likely be posting pictures of the blocks I'm doing.

In addition, I'll be posting pictures from Christmas and more soon!

And We're Back in Business!

I can't make these pictures any bigger (or maybe I can...I just don't know how).   Maybe because they were taken on my phone, then uploaded on facebook, then copied to my desktop from there and uploaded to blogger.  

Here are all of my quilt squares cut out and ready to be pieced together.  Don't you just love the fabrics?  It's going to be hard to give this away, especially being my first quilt and all. 

After I did that, I just had to get the layout done.  So here are the squares pinned to a sheet hanging in front of my windows.  

I have all of the rows sewn together and 3 of them are all sewn together (does that make sense?).  So pretty much I just have to sew the other 3 rows on and my quilt top is complete!!  I'll take pictures after that.  I've kind of lost momentum on it this week, just have been overly tired or something.  I hope to have it all done tonight though so I can start working on a couple of other special projects over the weekend!

It's 1 a.m. and I'm Up....

Working on my QUILT!!

I got all of my strips sewn together and cut out and I was so anxious to lay it out that I've been working on that the last half hour!  So excited!  I'll post pictures soon - tomorrow maybe.  I do believe it's going to be a beauty - I can't like it too much, it's a gift!

I didn't get my sewing machine working yet, but my darling friend, Annie lent me one of hers.  If she hadn't, I'm sure my motivation to work on the quilt would be nearly extinct.

Do you ever just want to cry?

So, I started my quilt last week!  I was so excited to have all of the fabrics and to get the strips cut in one evening when the stars aligned just right for me again!  

I even completed 6 squares and was so excited to get a little time to work on it again last night.  Until this happened:

Okay, so that didn't just happen.  I was sewing strips 1 and 2 together and noticed an annoying whining sound.  Started sewing strips 2 and 3 together and the noise got worse.  I tried to lower the feed dogs and clean out a little dust/lint and then the feed dogs wouldn't go back up!!  Something happened with the switch, so we (hubby and I) took it apart to see if we could see how it was suppose to work and make it right.  We thought we got it - actually, we did fix that part (even if just temporary - until I move the switch again to lower feed dogs).  So I get the machine back together, threaded, plugged in and ready to go - excitement building again!  Can you feel it?!  I press on the pedal and BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!!!! (the machine noise, not curse words).  I get error message E1 - which has to do with trying to use machine while presser foot is up.  So I check the presser foot, hoping and praying that it's up.  It's down.  What?  I try again...and again...and again.  As if raising and lowering it multiple times will fix whatever it is that's not working now.  By this time it was nearing 11pm and it's been a draining week so I was ready to just give up and go to bed.  I'll work on it another day.  

It has been a rough week:

Monday was good - I had the day off and it was the day I started my quilt.  

The ever-present financial worry showed it's evil face on Tuesday and then I get to work to hear one of my sweet former co-workers is not getting married on the 18th as planned and I just felt so bad for him that I started tearing up.  

I've had to start taking the boys to Becky's daycare since my mother-in-law had surgery last week so they went out there yesterday.  While I love that they're going there and they had a great time, it was exhausting to do all the driving (nearly 70 miles in a day!!?) but the price is well worth the drive.  So add that exhaustion to my frustration with my sewing machine and you can just imagine how I'm feeling.  

This part I hate to admit, but FarmTown on Facebook (skip this section now if you have no idea what I'm talking about, or feel the need to judge me) has been ruling my life more than it should lately.  I've been getting so close to the final level needed to buy a mansion.  Last night I was close and I knew I'd be there today.  I hired help to get everything harvested and plowed and I had enough points and coins to get the mansion so I made room for it, bought it and placed it.  It was a thing of beauty - ha!  And then it happened - I mistakenly deleted it!!  Many, many hours gone to waste because now I have nothing to show for it, there is no way to get it back.  I removed FarmTown from my applications - it no longer has a place in my life!

It was the silly game that pushed me over the edge and I teared up again and nearly lost it.  

Travis is asking if I'm seriously crying over FarmTown.  

No!  I'm crying because nothing is going right this week!  I feel like I sometimes work so hard at things and have nothing to show for it, just like my stupid farm and my quilt strips that are just lying there next to my dead sewing machine.  

Hunter at the Doctor and Girl Projects!

Hunter had his doctor appointment for a check up on Monday.  I took him in because Calvin was sleeping so Travis and he stayed behind.  Hunter weighed in at 42 pounds (100th percentile) and is 39 inches (80th percentile).  He was a little nervous, I think, because the last few times he has been to the doctor with Calvin he now associates the doctor with shots (I don't think he can remember actually getting shots himself - but maybe).  Luckily for him - and me - he didn't have to have shots this year, but will next year (they do their 'Kindergarten' shots at 4 now I guess).  He also had an eye exam and has 20/20 vision.  It was kind of cute because the nurse showed him some cards with the objects from the chart on them and the one that looked like: ⇧ he called an arrow (when most kids call it a house).  And the one that looked like: ◯ he called an 'o' when most kids say circle.  There was another one that had the outline of what was supposed to be an apple, and he called it a heart (it was pretty close to heart-shaped).  Here's the picture of him being embarrassed by the eye patch:

This is the first place I've known about that they have the kids change into a gown for their checkup.  I tried to upload last year's picture as well, but it wouldn't work for some reason, so here's this year's:

After his appointment we went to the new JoAnn's for fabric.  I'm not finishing my knitted blanket on time for Saturday's baby shower - so I decided I'd whip up another frayed edge quilt for my friend's baby girl.  We picked up some cute fabric and I splurged a little and got a rotary blade and mat because I did not want to trace squares anymore!

Isn't this fabric I picked up so cute?  

That night I got all of my squares cut out:

I love my new fabric cutting tools - can you believe when I made Hunter's blanket I traced and cut (with scissors) all 144+ squares?  Where have you been all my life Mr. Rotary Blade?

The next day I completed the blanket - it was a quick project and I had so much fun making something for a GIRL!  I'll have to do more, especially since I know of 2 other new baby girls!

The blanket all sewn up and ready to cut!

The finished product after a cycle through the washer and dryer - I love the way it frayed!

Close of of the monogramed details - personally my favorite, it adds a special touch!

Crafty

Back in early 2007 my friend Annie and I decided to start doing craft project days.  I think we only had 2 or 3 such days, and I also did a couple with another friend, Sara Nally, as well.  Anyway, back then we (I) had great ambitions of it being something we'd do once or twice a month and invite a lot of friends to join us.  It would be fun to do different crafts and things, but mostly I was looking forward to the company of other adults - more specifically female adults.  I spend a lot of time with my boys, and I love every moment of it, but sometimes I need some kid free time and having something like a craft day is a great way to hang out with old friends, meet new friend and enjoy the company of other adults.  

Our first craft day we made sock monkeys

I'm now in the process of organizing another craft day and I have high hopes for this one.  Hopefully our first day will be this Saturday, I have a few people interested in coming.  Rather than everyone doing the same project, we're just all going to do our own thing.  I had started this rag quilt for Hunter about a month ago...well so far I've only got part of the squares cut, and that's it.  So I'm hoping if I can get a day where the kids are gone and I hang out with other ladies who are motivated to finish a project I can get it done soon.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of crafting days and any completed projects!